


Save the Best for Last

by bamf_librarian (librawrian)



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Hotel
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 05:56:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14994260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/librawrian/pseuds/bamf_librarian
Summary: Minny came to LA following her dreams.  When things go wrong she finds herself down on her luck and staying at the Hotel Cortez at a charitable discount.  Soon she draws the attention of the hotel's peculiar owner.  She can't resist the attraction despite the primal warnings she feels.





	Save the Best for Last

The Hotel Cortez seemed to collect misfits. Minny moved to Hollywood pursuing her dream of becoming a famous dancer and leading lady. But her dream was dashed when she took a bad step off a trolley. She survived the accident, but the fall broke her ankle and resulted in a permanent limp. She would never dance again and nobody wanted to see a gimpy girl in the pictures. These days she was rather dismally employed as the assistant in a shabby dress shop. The Cortez was a short walk from work and the price of a room was amazingly reasonable. Minny never questioned the owner’s generosity in offering her a discounted rate. By now she’d learned to shut up and take what she could get.

 

She’d been living at the Cortez for a few months and she was used to the strange habits of its residents and visitors. People checked in but rarely checked out. Workmen went missing. The girls in the lounge were invited up to Mr. March’s room and never seen again. Minny kept her head down and tried not to attract attention to herself. She just wanted to save up some dough and get out of this town. 

 

One night the lounge was unusually quiet. Minny found herself alone in the enormous dining area, sipping a coffee and reading a dime novel. She was so enthralled with the story that she didn’t notice Mr. March’s arrival until his shadow fell across the page.

 

To tell the truth, she was scared of the hotel’s owner. True, he’d never been anything but professionally cordial to her. True, she didn’t know *exactly* what it was that people whispered about him. But there was something in his eyes that frightened her and warned her to keep her distance. 

 

“Mr. March,” she murmured, sticking a finger in the paperback to mark her place. “How do you do?”

 

As she looked up at him through her long, curled lashes she couldn’t deny that he was a handsome man. His flawless smooth skin and dimpled cheeks gave him a look of boyish innocence. But his rich, deep voice and broad shoulders spoke of a man’s power. She’d felt a thrill of attraction to him from the first moment she’d laid eyes upon him...but still, she’d stayed away. Until now.

 

“Good evening, my dear Miss Dashgood. May I join you?” he carried a tumblr of amber-colored liquor in one hand and an ornamental cane in the other.

 

Minny quailed inside but fashioned her lips into a polite smile and nodded her head, “Of course, Mr. March!”

 

“Why don’t you call me James, dear, it’s too dreadful to hear such formality at the dinner table.”

 

Minny blushed at his familiarity and murmured in reply, “James.”

 

A brilliant smile lit up his face in response, “That’s better! Now, tell me everything there is to know about you.”

 

His sudden interest in her could only be attributed to the absolutely empty lounge and his own boredom. Still...Minny didn’t have anyone in the whole world to talk to. So she told him everything: growing up in Missouri, working in service at the Governor’s estate, saving the money to go out west and follow her dreams. The accident, the injury, the loss of everything.

 

James tutted sympathetically at the conclusion of her tale of woe. He stared into his empty glass for a moment before replying with a light in his eyes, “But now you’re here! In this grand hotel! New friends, new adventures await you, I’m sure of it.”

 

He spoke with such unabashed optimism that Minny couldn’t help catching his positive outlook. She beamed back at him and found herself falling into his eyes--which weren’t as a dark and frightening as they’d once seemed. She felt a horrid blush creeping up her neck and along her cheeks as they sat watching eachother.

 

“I don’t suppose,” he said, adjusting his waistcoat and shifting in his seat, “that you would accept an invitation to continue this conversation in my suite?”

 

Now Minny blushed in earnest and looked down at her hands clasped in her lap, “Although I might have worked in show business, Mr. March, I promise you I’m not that type of girl.”

 

James smiled and looked...almost relieved. 

 

“No,” he said, “I didn’t think so. So, I will stop pestering you and wish you good night.”

 

Minny watched his tall, lithe figure as he strolled from the dining room with a predator’s grace. Her book sat forgotten on the tabletop in front or her.

 

***

 

She was right, of course. It was boredom that drew him to her that evening. For the next night she sat in the crowded lounge for over an hour watching him mingle and carouse without sparing a single glance in her direction. Finally, feeling unaccountably naive and stupid, she stood up and fled the noisy room, her awkward, limping gait highlighting the ignominy of her wasted evening.  

 

Tears pricked her eyes and her ankle ached as she hobbled across the lobby to the gleaming bronze elevator. She heard footsteps hurrying up behind her and a large, warm hand grabbed her shoulder as she stepped inside. Turning, she saw James stepping into the elevator behind her. He pressed a button, she hardly knew which one, and turned his sardonic, charming gaze on her. 

 

“Now, now, my dear. I can see that you’re upset with me for being so beastly by ignoring you this evening,” his deep voice seemed to fill the small space of the elevator and Minny felt a thrill go up her spine at being the object of his undivided attention at last. “But you mustn’t be angry with me. You see...you wouldn’t like to be my companion this evening. *This* evening I have a hunger inside me that I think...well, I don’t think you’re ready for *that* quite yet…”

 

His words confused her. Her head was full of his voice and his eyes and the delicious musky scent of his cologne. He stepped forward and she found she had to tip back her head to maintain eye contact. His tall, powerful body was just inches from hers but they didn’t touch. His presence was so overwhelming she hardly had concentration enough to take in his words. 

 

She shook her head as if to regain her senses and finally responded, haltingly, “I was angry, James. I thought maybe...maybe you…”

 

He smirked as the words faltered in her mouth and finally reached forward, stroking his fingers down the side of her pale, delicate neck. 

 

“I *do* like you, darling,” he responded, reading her thoughts. “That’s why I must protect you from my...darker tastes. I’m saving you…for dessert.”

 

With that he dipped down and pressed his mouth over hers. His lips were impossibly soft and gentle. She’d seen the way he stalked and prowled around this hotel and could never have dreamed that he was capable of such a soft touch. She moaned into the kiss and melted against him, clinging to his lapels for support. James wrapped his arms around her tiny form and deepened the kiss, plunging his velvet tongue into her mouth and nibbling her lips. 

 

Minny was dizzy, lightheaded, absolutely drunk on his kiss. She found herself panting and mewling as his wandering hands stroked her bottom through the thin fabric of her dress. She thought, rather hysterically, that she could die from this. That he could simply go on kissing her until she stopped breathing and she would be happy to give her soul over to him. It was madness. She could feel everything--his darkness, his power, the danger that lurked in his wake--she didn’t care. She wanted this to last forever. 

 

But just like that, it was over. He pulled away from the kiss and gazed down at her with hooded eyes, stroking his fingers through her mussed hair. 

 

“Mmm…” he moaned approvingly and placed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “You see, dear? You’re far too sweet to gobble up all at once.”

 

With that he turned away, releasing the STOP button and stepping out of the elevator back into the lobby. 

 

Minny stood, leaning her weight against the side of the elevator and catching her breath. She really wasn’t sure what she’d gotten herself into. 


End file.
